1. Technical Field
This invention relates to body armor. In particular, this invention relates to soft body armor of the type that is commonly configured as a vest to be worn by a peace officer or soldier. The vest may include a front ballistic panel and a back ballistic panel as part of a carrier/garment for supporting the individual panels.
2. Description of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,961,957 to Carlson discloses the use of a semi-rigid plastic frame incorporated with layers of flexible ballistic material. The frame helps to support the ballistic material and resist bunching and twisting of the ballistic material, thus limiting backface deformation and blunt trauma, reducing impact movement, and aiding in rapid impact recovery.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,097 to Mellian discloses sewing together the edges of three plies of ballistic material to form a first unit portion of a layer of a vest panel; sewing together the edges of three other plies of ballistic material to form a second unit portion of a layer of a vest panel; and thereafter stitching together the first and second unit portions to form the vest panel, which has a seam where the layers are joined. This method is used to produce a contoured (three-dimensional) panel that can conform to the curvature of the female body in the bust area.